Iraqi Sunni leaders are concerned over Baghdad's decision to legalize the unpredictable Hashde Shaabi militia, saying the action could trigger sectarian violence
Concern in Iraq and across the region grew over Baghdad's recognition of the vengeful Shi'ite militia group Hashd Shaabi as a paramilitary force.
Kurdish and Sunni groups in across Iraq strongly oppose the resolution claiming the Baghdad administration legalized a controversial group that aimed only to take revenge against Sunni Muslims.
Osama al-Nujaifi, one of Iraq's three vice presidents and a senior Sunni politician, said the government had established a parallel structure of the security institutions of the state.
He called on Sunni Arabs to reject the controversial resolution.
The head of the Sunni tribe of Shammar, one of the largest tribes in Iraq, has also expressed deep concern over Saturday's parliamentary decision.
"We understand that there is a war taking place at present in Mosul, but on the other hand the Hashd al-Shaabi has been legalized, and we deem that as being dangerous for Iraq's future," said Abdulrazaq Shammar, head of the Shammar tribe.
"We suspect that the Hashd has been assigned for future plans after the Daesh, and we really cannot see that these plans are set for the wellbeing of Iraq and its people," he said in a press conference.
The Shaabi forces had been formed in the wake of Iraqi military's humiliating defeat after Daesh attacks in 2014, but the Shi'ite group was mostly interested in Sunni civilians rather the Daesh elements.
The militia illegally detained Sunni people and destructed their properties as a Shi'ite retaliatory action.
"Members of Shi'ite militias, who the Iraqi government has included among its state forces, abducted and killed scores of Sunni residents in a central Iraq town and demolished Sunni homes, stores, and mosques following the January 11, 2016 bombings, claimed by the extremist group Daesh," the Human Rights Watch said earlier this year in a released statement.
The group is an extension of Iran's unprecedented influence in post-war Iraq as it follows the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's instruction rather than Baghdad administration. Even in a recent Mosul offensive, the Shaabi elements followed its own strategy rather than the joint force command led by Iraqi military raising doubt that Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi's actual power to control them.
Despite Abadi's repeated statement that Shaabi would not advance towards the Turkmen populated city of Tal Afar, around 50 km west of Mosul, the Shi'ite militants had entered the city capturing the Tal Afar airport.
Turkey had also raised concern over Shaabi's dangerous advance to the city, voicing it could make an ethnic cleansing over Turkmen.
Ankara repeatedly warned against the involvement of the Shi'ite group Mosul battle, as almost all population in the city are Sunni Arabs with a small number of Turkmen and Kurds.
The latest move by the Baghdad administration could trigger sectarian and ethnic violence, as all actors in the region except the Iraq government rejected the resolution.
